The New York Yankees are one of those teams that fans love to hate. You either love the Yankees or you hate them, rarely is there middle ground. Winning the 27th World Series title in franchise history has given the “lovers” of this storied Major League Baseball club reason to smile and the “haters” even more ammunition!

But there’s something that the Yankees have done that can be lauded by even the so-called “haters”: they’ve helped make the very American sport of baseball become even more of a global game.

Nine of the World Series-winning players on the New York roster were born outside of the United States. The list is fronted by Hideki Matsui, the first Japan-born player to win the World Series' Most Valuable Player award.

Matsui came to the Yankees as a superstar in his native land, a winner of three titles in Japan. But what he did on the game’s biggest stage was simple remarkable. His batting average in the World Series was .615 and he was 8-for-13 at the plate with three home runs and eight runs batted in. Through a translator, Matsui said that he amazed himself: “It’s awesome. Unbelievable.”

Millions of baseball fans in Japan watched Matsui’s heroics. They tuned in at home, in offices, in bars and restaurants, and many even filled downtown Tokyo electronics stores to check out the World Series clinching game. The word “proud” was used time and time again when Japanese baseball fans spoke of the historic performance of their native son.

Asia has always been a hot bed of baseball talent, with Japan feeding the Major Leagues with a number of mouth-watering prospects. Taiwan is now considered an up and coming, talent-rich nation in the region. Of course, Latin America’s contributions to the Major League landscape can not be overstated and now Europe may even be getting in on the mix! This past summer, one Major League team even signed a prospect who calls Germany home. Sure, football will always be king in many parts of the globe, but it’s good to see a sport that I grew up with making major inroads outside of North America.

Forbes magazine has listed the New York Yankees as the fifth most valuable sports franchise in the world. Don’t be surprised if you see Yankees hats and shirts in places where baseball is still a curiosity. After all, who doesn’t want to count themselves as being associated with a winner? Okay, I’m sure the world’s Yankees Haters will take a pass!

It is a simple question that I am dying to hear the answer to…”where do you watch CNN World Sport”?

Here is why I ask. Recently, I took a cruise from Seattle, Washington U.S.A. up the Pacific coast to Alaska. (It is an amazing trip which I recommend if you ever get the chance).

A couple of days into the Alaska adventure, I started getting looks from a few of the crew members. Once one person asked, “do you work on World Sport?", it seemed as if the floodgates swung open!

What I learned for many of the young men and women on the ship was that our show is a lifeline for those who love international sports.

The majority of the crew members on my particular cruise hailed from Indonesia and the Philippines. Many were supporters of European football clubs like Barcelona, Manchester United, and Real Madrid.

They followed rugby and Formula One racing and it was somewhat surprising for me to discover how popular N-B-A superstar LeBron James was among the Filipino crew members.

This is not the first time that I had such an experience. Last year, I took a cruise through the Gulf of Mexico from New Orleans and a similar scenario played out.

Think about it, many of these guys and gals are at sea for six to eight month contracts at a time. Their routines are the same week after week, day after day.

Work breakfast, take a break. Work lunch, take a break. Work dinner and then you might get a break after the midnight buffet is all cleaned up!

When they can, the ship’s staff goes below deck and turns on CNN in the crew quarters and they are brought up-to-speed on the day’s sports scores and stories via our World Sport program. It is pretty humbling.

In case you did not know, I have worked for CNN since 1985 and I am still amazed at the worldwide reach of this network. It truly hits home when I meet viewers on cruise ships, airplanes, here at CNN Center, or, for instance, on the streets of Beijing while covering the Olympic Summer Games or in Berlin at the FIFA World Cup Finals.

Then there are the meetings with the athletes themselves. I was recently assigned to cover the final weekend of the U.S. Tennis open in New York. I was one of the few World Sport correspondents who had not met or worked with Roger Federer in the past.

Before our brief one-on-one interview, Federer said to me “you are taller than I expected you to be”. I responded with “you, too” and thus an instant chemistry was born!

It is instances like that and on board cruise ships and in city streets, that brings home the fact that there are many eyes on us…for that I am grateful to you the viewer. So, let me ask again, “where do YOU watch CNN World Sport?" I am always intrigued by the answers.

Can someone please help me write this blog?!? I am finding it difficult to come up with words to describe what Usain Bolt has done at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany!

Excuse me if I use simple words like "wow", "amazing", "incredible", and "fantastic"! It's been that kind of run for the man from Jamaica in the German capital.

The pictures, whether moving or still, tell the story of the might of Bolt. Did you see how the far ahead of the chasing pack he was at the end of the 200 meters final? You could have driven a truck through the chasm! Another race, another gold medal, another world record. Is this getting old for you? It's not me for!

Watching Bolt and you can't help but have a smile on your face. Whether it's his unorthodox pre-race primping to the camera, or his sheer athletic ability once the starter's gun sounds, or the post-race prancing around the track interacting with fans lucky enough to get front-row seats to history. Bolt is a very likeable champion.

The crowd is something that excites Bolt as well. He's said that all he wants to do is have fun. Here's betting he's having a blast right about now.

I just conducted a phone interview with United States sprinter Shawn Crawford. He's the guy who finished fourth behind Bolt in Thursday's 200 meters final at the worlds. I asked him what he meant when he said that he felt like he was in a video game out there on the track. Crawford compared the race to playing a simulated athletics game on your home big screen television. You know, when the times are simply "stupid"! I think we all know what Crawford means.

I also wanted to know whether, as a competitor, Crawford thought what Bolt is doing is good for athletics. He immediately said "yes". The American sprinter said that his Jamaican counterpart is bringing added attention to his sport.

Just think, if a talent like Bolt wasn't in Berlin do you really think that we'd be talking as much about the World Athletics Championships like we have been?

That's no slight to the hundreds of athletes who train day after day in their homelands to achieve personal or team glory. But, what Bolt has done has caught the attention and the imagination of millions around the world. Athletics, for so long, was in need of a star as bright as the 23-year-old to put the sport back onto the front burner.

Usain Bolt is someone who constantly wears a smile on his face. He's brought smiles to those of us who can only marvel at his extraordinary talents on the track.

“I’m really happy that Usain broke the record.” Huh? Those, surprisingly, were the words of United States sprinter Tyson Gay after he, and the rest of us, watched the Jamaican smash another 100-meters world record at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.

O.K. let’s add some context to Gay’s comment. The American had a front row seat to history in the German capital as he finished runner-up to Bolt in the “world’s” marquee race. While battling through the pain of a groin injury, Gay still blazed a personal best and U.S. record time of 9.71 seconds. This, of course, paled in comparison to Bolt’s lightning-fast winning time of 9.58 seconds. Gay, the second fastest human on the planet, told reporters: “I knew it was humanly possible for someone to run that fast. Unfortunately, it wasn’t me.”

What Bolt is doing is something we might not see achieved on the track for a long, long time to come, if ever. The Jamaican is pushing the limits of the human body and he appears to be doing it with the greatest of ease.

After twice interviewing the 22-year-old during last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, there are a couple of traits that I believe contribute to his continued success. First, Bolt is lanky - 6 feet, 5 inches tall to be exact (1.9558 meters). Long legs create quite an advantage when a sprinter strides down the track.

Bolt is also one of the most laid back individuals that you’ll ever meet. Youthful exuberance when competing in the high-pressure world of athletics goes a long way in remaining cool while the heat is on. Bolt has this happy-go-lucky personality synonymous with someone raised in the Caribbean. In fact, he does care very much about what he’s doing and wants to be known someday as a living legend. Many think that he’s already achieved that goal but Bolt disagrees. Speaking in Berlin after once again doing the amazing in the 100, the sprinter said that he doesn’t think he can reach legendary status in just two seasons of glory. He said that it comes with being consistent year in and year out and with hard work.

So, how low can he go? Perhaps the best is yet to come. Bolt is on record as saying that he thinks he can take the 100-meters world record down to 9.4 seconds. Put me in the category of believers!

It may sound hard to believe but Bolt says that he doesn’t run for world records, he just keeps on working. Well, what he’s doing IS working and we are all benefiting from it as fans of athletics.

Sure, he’s not the most humble of characters, what with his trademark “lightning bolt” stance and his playful antics toward the track side television cameras. But, Bolt is hard not to like. What he’s done over the past couple of years is bring much needed personality to a sport that has lacked it of late. Couple his playful nature with his uncanny ability to wipe out world records in 30-something steps and the sky is the limit for Usain Bolt who, like lightning, will strike again very soon.

One year ago, I was witness to a number of incredible sporting achievements in the Chinese capital.

The opening week of the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, belonged to Michael Phelps. The United States swimmer capturing our imaginations with his incredible, gold medal-winning performances in the pool.

If Phelps whet our collective appetites, then Usain Bolt delivered the dessert!

The Jamaican sprinter closed out the Beijing Games with a bang…three races, three world records, three Olympic gold medals.

A year later, at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Bolt is ready to defend his title as “World’s Fastest Man”. It is not likely that he will leave Germany disappointed.

Proclaiming that he is in the best shape of his life, defending world champion Tyson Gay is prepared to give Bolt the challenge that he never had in Beijing.

The anticipated Bolt-Gay Olympic showdown did not materialized after the American pulled a hamstring muscle in the U.S. Olympic trails. Berlin provides Gay a platform to show that he can give Bolt a “run for his money”.

The last time these two men met was in May 2008. It proved to be Bolt’s coming out party. While previously running in relative anonymity, Bolt burst onto the scene that night in New York with the first of his two world records in the 100-meters. Gay has been playing second fiddle ever since.

It would probably be for the good of athletics if Bolt had some real competition. Then again, don’t we wish that for other sports? Who has stepped up to tame Tiger Woods in golf? Why hasn’t anyone halted, or even slowed, the Roger Federer Express in men’s tennis?

Tyson Gay doesn’t sound intimated by Usain Bolt and he’s quick to give the Jamaican his “props”. But, until he proves otherwise, Gay will always have to hear that that he is a good but not a great sprinter.

Last month, before a meet in London, Bolt told a reporter that on his best day he doesn’t think that Gay can beat him. The Jamaican has had a number of “great” days over the past year. There’s no reason to believe that he won’t enjoy a satisfying stay in the German capital.